had this at the huge kickbacks dinner in Jacksonville, FL. I took some notes but mostly doing this from memory.
Appearance: garnett complexion
Smell: hoppy and nice caramel from malts
Taste: quite poissbly the best beer of the night. big fan of imperial reds. this was a great one. huge caramel and huhge hops. great combo

7 oz bottle for more than I care to pay for a single 12, but Rogue got me again... I will say that, as a home brewer, I really like the ingredient list and gravity breakdowns on the bottles. Served in a tulip.

A - Very dark amber and mahogany body, you can't even begin to see through this one. A small but tight tan head fades slowly to a ring on the side with carbonation keeping the rest lively.

S - Like a pile of fresh cut wood sitting in the middle of a bakery. Earthy, with a hint of caramel sweetness. I give the glass a swirl and pick up hints of fig.

T - Assertive pine bitterness is balanced with rich caramel malt and alcohol warming. A little on the boozy side, with the alcohol really biting the back of the tongue. There are grapefruit and green apple flavors resting on a fresh baked cracker base.

M - Rich and fairly robust body, this Imperial Red clears the palate well and encourages the next sip.

D - Fairly low, as the ABV coupled with the exorbitant price make this less than a session brew.

Taste is bready caramel malt and brown sugar, with a drying oak character. Boozy with a big brandy character that appeared in the nose. A good bit of peaty smokiness. Cherry and plum dark fruit, orange peel and resinous earthy hops adds some complexity. Finishes a little hot.

Mouthfeel is medium-full.

Certainly drinkable, but not outstanding. Overall flavor is not as robust as I had expected.

7oz Nip bottle. Poured into 10oz glass. Poured a clear, deep ruby color with about a 1/4 inch of light tan head that had low retention and lacing.

The aroma was slightly hop forward, with a nice malt base also having a solid presence. On the tongue it's bitter hops upfront, slightly sweet malt in the middle and very bitter hops on the finish.

The body was a bit thinner than I like for this style. Drinkability was decent but not special. Overall, a decent beer that's worth a try, especially since you can just get a Nip and not commit to a whole 22.

This score/review is based on allowing this beer to warm and drinking it cool, not chilled. Review of the chilled beer would be substantially worse and I changed this review significantly after beer warmed closer to room termperature.

Pours dark copper brown with a very thin and quickly fading tan head.

Extremely faint nose-almost non existent but hints of cooked fruit and prune and chocolate coffee. Nose improves with time and a bit like Dr. Pepper or warm cola. Get more like elegant cooked fruit and dark chocolate.

Mouthfeel is actually bold, full and lightly creamy. Mouthfilling and leaves you wanting more.

Flavors are somewhat unique. First taste or two is not very good and is like stale burned coffee. Flavors improve as beer warms and become much more appealing - malty, big coffee, bitter espresso, hints of Dr. Pepper and undertones of black chocolate. Rich malty toasted grain and "sweet toast."

Finish is really best part - all chocolate espresso with a rich bitter character.

A great example of give a beer a chance to open up like you would a wine. The one ends up being very appealing and would likely be really good with BBQ, big meats, among other things.

A-pours a red/slight brown with about a half inch of dirty white head
S-big bready malts and dark fruit with a bit of hops and alcohol in the background
T-much like smell with a little bit of a nutty character, a nice complex taste of tons of malts and a bit of hops that are perfectly understated
M-a rather light mouthfeel even for a heavier beer and a modest bit of carbonation
D-overall a delicious complex beer that drinks dangerously for its abv

A- Ceramic 750ml XS bottle poured into an imperial pint glass. Pours a dark brownish red color with a light tan head with good lacing and retention.

S- The aroma is largely comprised of malt and caramel with a hint of dark fruits and a moderate hop presence. A pretty solid aroma, would like to have a bit more of a hop presence in this one but it is solid the way it is.

T- The taste like the aroma is big and malty with caramel and dark fruits. The hops come out more in the taste compared to the aroma. This is a pretty nice balanced imperial red, I like it so far!

M- The mouthfeel is full bodied with a medium amount of carbonation.

D- Overall, Rogue Imperial Red is a winner in my book. The price in the ceramic XS bottles is a little out of my price range for a repeat purchase, but it is a solid beer that is definitely worth a try.

Mild aroma of darker malt and light alcohol. I smell some cream as well.

Starts off as lightly sweet malt, but quickly gives way to a strong bitterness that did not show up in the smell. Nicely complex. Expected body and carbonation. The aftertaste is bitter and lasting. Interestingly, there is nearly no notable alcohol.

A very cloudy murky reddish brown appearance to this one... Not the brilliantly deep red I was hoping for... A little carbonation and a decent head make up for it a bit but not the most beautiful of reds ever... Appearance is overrated in my book anyway..

Very sweet malty aromas mingle with a sharp piney hoppiness and a pronounced whiff of heat... Neither one wants to dominate here but I can say the booze is coming through loud and clear... Yowza... Almost a cotton candy-like sweetness to the malt aroma...

Very thick creamy brew with a fruity maltiness that's loaded with booze right off the bat that finishes with a longering piney aspect... No hop bitterness here, just a piney flavor that seems overwhelmed by the malts... Not sure how fresh this is or how hoppy its designed to be but it seems a little lacking to me...

Overall not quite up to par with the others in the XS family... Nice to try, even nicer that I found it in the 7 oz bottle as opposed that big swingtop...

Served from 7 ounce bottle into a Samuel Smith imperial pint. Pours reddish brown with a one-finger off-white head that subsides to a minimal amount. There was minimal lacing throughout. The flavor was comprised of hops and malt. The flavor was of hops with a slight malt note upon being swallowed. It was medium on the palate with low carbonation. Overall I was surprised to see this amount of hops show up in a red ale. While surprised, it was welcomed as well. I mainly bought this one due to the little bottle. It was a very nice brew but I don't think I could drink a large quantity of it in one sitting however.

Another goody found at the Great Lost Bear in Portland ,ME, this brew is a deep dark carmel brown color with a reasonable grey tan head and a decent rim of lacing along the sides of the tulip glass. The aroma is alcohol wheat caramel, not real special but okay. The flavor is solid toffee malt and very notable herbal hops in a medium bodied brew with mild carbonation. I pick up some raisin and allspice perhaps. A little bit resinous, smooth but not too thick. Quite drinkable and a very tasty red ale with some alcohol presence and plenty of hop enjoyment.

Taste: thick malt flavor with a pretty nice malt profile. It tastes like a standard red ale, only more so -- which I'm guessing is exactly what they were attempting. Malt is biscuity, which, while not my favorite, is certainly to style; hops tend toward citrus and metallic notes, but aren't overpowering. This beer is not hopped out of proportion to its malt. I'd call it a success.

Mouthfeel: medium-thick body has a thick, unctuous, almost syrupy consistency, combined with a solid level of carbonation. This has a creamy, roamy and all-around a great mouth feel.

Drinkability: quite drinkable. I might mark it higher, but a beer with this high an ABV and this much flavor can only be consumed in so-much quantity. Still, very nice.

It hardly looks red at all. It looks more of a muddy brown color with hues of orange and red. Head retention is about average, very little lacing sticks to the glass. The aroma is fine at first, but becomes more intense as time passes. Fruity esters, toffee, and pineapple all greet the nose.

Rogue XS Imperial Red is what I call a good one. Pineapple are first to arrive, then comes some soft notes of fruity esters. A little resin hits and sticks to the palate. Bread crust....ok. The alcohol makes itsslef noticable with a fume of itself. Carbonation is just a touch pricklier than I'd prefer, but the body remains medium in size.

Not mind blowing despite the added XS monikor, but still a good imperial red. Hoppy and malty at the same time is the common way to excecute the style, and that's the path this beer takes.

Poured from a 7oz. bottle into a "tall" tulip glass
Brownish ruby in color with a rather short, off-white head of foam
Aroma-faint malt notes, spice
Taste-Malty, spicy, underlying hop notes that hang on to the rather dry finish. Chewy, with muddled flavors that seem to come from two or more beers mixed together, instead of balanced to complement each other. I've had better beers from Rogue at a better price. 3.99 for a 7oz bottle thet doesn't even fill my glass or dazzle my tastebuds was not worth it.

Gives you a finger's worth of reddish brown foam, moderate density, yet, only average retention and little stick to the lacing. Cherry red wood coloration, just dark enough to get to opacity, more rust orange further out from the center. Caramel, butterscotch and coffee ice cream race out in front of the hops in the nose but the green grasses, orange rinds, pine needles run the former down quickly enough, the apricot, peach scents have a weak grip, peppery dissolve with elevating bitter white grapefruit citrus. Medium-bodied, the carbonation churns up the mouth entry to make it seem a touch bigger. More or less the same here except that the spicy pepper, pine and earthiness more pronounced, very herbaceous which ratchets up the sourness of the grapefruit, lemon, orange citrus. As your mouth acclimates to being scrubbed raw you can discern more toffee, caramel, honey maltiness, still, delivered in a roasted fashion. Apricot, apple, peach fruit nowhere near ripe but you can say it marks out a clear place. Provides enough of the raw material but somehow it does not coalesce into a greater whole. Becomes tiring to drink after awhile.

Cloudy amber red color with a thick, foamy beige head. Sweet malty with nice hop notes. The flavor is has a nice malt base, with pleasant hop accents. The mouthfeel is enjoyable and medium bodied, with a good level of carbonation. Overall this is a fairly drinkable beer, though I do wish it was offered in something besides 7oz bottles, as I would like to have a bit more to really be able to get a good taste for it.